Shinji Makami on why Japanese Games are struggling

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/357308/mikami-japan-needs-to-make-games-like-hollywood-makes-movies/

So basically he thinks Japansese games suck because develpoers don"t want to spend money on them( Kinda true but not always true) He gives mad props To Kojima for MGS4 and how epic and blockbustery it was

Thoughts?

hasnt he already commented about this several times already?campzor

I don"t think he has, but the megamn guy Ifune I think his name is said some disparaging simlar statements about the west vs East debate

I don't know what japanese games need, but when I play new japanese games it seems like they were not made by humans. Or how a game would feel if it were automatically made.

Hmm, I don't think budget is the only issue, there's an issue with their general appeal (which he does mention), and they don't get any marketing here in the first place. Almost never porting to PC doesn't help either, even a late release + steam sale would probably make some good $ if the localization was at least menus/text.Inconsistancy

I agree on the marketing part 100% good examples are Vanquish and Bayonetta really good games (I would go as far as to say Vanquish is the best 3rd person shooter this gen IMO) but next to no advertising whatsoever .....sad beyond words.

It seems like every single Japanese dev ever has said something like this.

Instead of constantly blabbering about it maybe they should do something about it if they feel so strongly about it?

[QUOTE="campzor"]hasnt he already commented about this several times already?musalala

I don"t think he has, but the megamn guy Ifune I think his name is said some disparaging simlar statements about the west vs East debate

[QUOTE="musalala"]

[QUOTE="campzor"]hasnt he already commented about this several times already?josephl64

I don"t think he has, but the megamn guy Ifune I think his name is said some disparaging simlar statements about the west vs East debate

Thats the guy, Keiji Inafune, wow I didn"t know he went that far, best of luck to him, Personally I hope this won"t lead to the westernization of Japanses games but rather japanses games with Blockbuster sensebilities if that makes sense. I am not entirley sold on capcom"s handling of resident evil 6 they appear to be CODfying the game.

If you want to attract the western audience (Europe and NA) stop making games with douches that look like this

Look back at what Japanese devs did from the mid 90's to the early 2000's. God I miss JRPGs like

[QUOTE="josephl64"][QUOTE="musalala"]

I don"t think he has, but the megamn guy Ifune I think his name is said some disparaging simlar statements about the west vs East debate

musalala

Thats the guy, Keiji Inafune, wow I didn"t know he went that far, best of luck to him, Personally I hope this won"t lead to the westernization of Japanses games but rather japanses games with Blockbuster sensebilities if that makes sense. I am not entirley sold on capcom"s handling of resident evil 6 they appear to be CODfying the game.

If you want to attract the western audience (Europe and NA) stop making games with douches that look like this

Look back at what Japanese devs did from the mid 90's to the early 2000's. God I miss JRPGs like

Ballroompirate

errrr those games a freakin awesome!!! thats exactly what they need to do

FFX sold really well in Europe and North america and chrono cross is one of the BEST JRPG ever made.

[QUOTE="musalala"]

[QUOTE="josephl64"] Keiji Inafune you mean...and that guy is taking a major risk because he basically said that he will show them how they should change and made his own company and he has a new game coming out in the near future. To tell you the truth though, most companies over there don't give out big budgets for their games unless the company is huge like Square Enix or Namco Bandaijosephl64

Thats the guy, Keiji Inafune, wow I didn"t know he went that far, best of luck to him, Personally I hope this won"t lead to the westernization of Japanses games but rather japanses games with Blockbuster sensebilities if that makes sense. I am not entirley sold on capcom"s handling of resident evil 6 they appear to be CODfying the game.

:o

Eh just another developer saying we need more cinamatic action b-rated hollywood games and generic shooters. He couldn't be anymore wrong.

It seems like every single Japanese dev ever has said something like this.

Instead of constantly blabbering about it maybe they should do something about it if they feel so strongly about it?

DJ-Lafleur

It seems like every single Japanese dev ever has said something like this.

Instead of constantly blabbering about it maybe they should do something about it if they feel so strongly about it?

DJ-Lafleur

What do you want him to do? Pull 50 million out his ass? It's true, japanese companies really don't want to commit to larger budgets, hence why so many of them have gone to handhelds or make very low budget games on consoles.

Eh just another developer saying we need more cinamatic action b-rated hollywood games and generic shooters. He couldn't be anymore wrong.

Crossel777

Did you even read the article? He's only saying more of them need to commit higher budgets to the games they make.

If you want to attract the western audience (Europe and NA) stop making games with douches that look like this

Ballroompirate

Are you implying FFX wasn't popular back then?

Eh just another developer saying we need more cinamatic action b-rated hollywood games and generic shooters. He couldn't be anymore wrong.

Crossel777

^^This

I respect Mikami's work, but he really needs to be quiet and make games.

Going hollywood-like productions is not the way to go.

Going hollywood-like productions is not the way to go.

FireEmblem_Man

Worked just fine with Mass Effect for Bioware. Then again it didn't work so well for Square with FFXIII.

It's just that the west took a bigger dive in the western console market in the previous gen, and this generation they've just cemented themselfs in, and have naturaly grown larger than the japanese market. Japan is just one, small country. And it's natural for western games to appeal more to western people, than japanese games to western people. Thus why western games sell better.

Did you even read the article? He's only saying more of them need to commit higher budgets to the games they make.

GD1551

He is wrong, look at Witcher 2 as a example. Though i have no idea just how big of a budget he had in mind wen disscusing this.

I agree, Japanese games developers are struggling because Japanese publishers are afraid to take risks way more the western side of the game industry.

Eh just another developer saying we need more cinamatic action b-rated hollywood games and generic shooters. He couldn't be anymore wrong.

Crossel777

I don"t think he is advocating this, I think he seems to be saying that the japanses need to be as aggresive in how they appraoch the maner in which they develope, advertise promote and launch their games.

As it stands now the west seem to do this far better than the east, even for non-fps games like Skyrim. I especially wish they would have a much more robust push towards advertising so many great Japanses games have been ignored because people just don"t know about them.

If you want to attract the western audience (Europe and NA) stop making games with douches that look like this

Look back at what Japanese devs did from the mid 90's to the early 2000's. God I miss JRPGs like

Ballroompirate

At least he isn't making a comment on the state of Japanese games and immediately going to be associated with Neptunia of all games, like Inafune did.

If you want to attract the western audience (Europe and NA) stop making games with douches that look like this

Look back at what Japanese devs did from the mid 90's to the early 2000's. God I miss JRPGs like

Ballroompirate

The fvck? :?

FF games are one of the few Japanese RPG's that sell really well outside of Japan. If anything, "douches" that look like Tidus ARE more appealing to Western audiences.

[QUOTE="Crossel777"]

Eh just another developer saying we need more cinamatic action b-rated hollywood games and generic shooters. He couldn't be anymore wrong.

GD1551

Did you even read the article? He's only saying more of them need to commit higher budgets to the games they make.

He is wrong, look at Witcher 2 as a example. Though i have no idea just how big of a budget he had in mind wen disscusing this.

Lucianu

[QUOTE="Lucianu"]

He is wrong, look at Witcher 2 as a example. Though i have no idea just how big of a budget he had in mind wen disscusing this.

jg4xchamp

At least he isn't making a comment on the state of Japanese games and immediately going to be associated with Neptunia of all games, like Inafune did.

OneSanitarium

If you want to attract the western audience (Europe and NA) stop making games with douches that look like this

Look back at what Japanese devs did from the mid 90's to the early 2000's. God I miss JRPGs like

Ballroompirate

Is it just me, or do those two characters look an awful a lot a like? Even the clothes are the same.

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

If you want to attract the western audience (Europe and NA) stop making games with douches that look like this

Look back at what Japanese devs did from the mid 90's to the early 2000's. God I miss JRPGs like

Tikeio

The fvck? :?

FF games are one of the few Japanese RPG's that sell really well outside of Japan. If anything, "douches" that look like Tidus ARE more appealing to Western audiences.

[QUOTE="jg4xchamp"]

[QUOTE="Lucianu"]

He is wrong, look at Witcher 2 as a example. Though i have no idea just how big of a budget he had in mind wen disscusing this.

Inconsistancy

He is wrong, look at Witcher 2 as a example. Though i have no idea just how big of a budget he had in mind wen disscusing this.

Lucianu

Console development is more expensive than PC development. Honestly there's no reason Tales of Xillia 2 should be looking like a PS2 game.

What the f*ck dd they spend all that money on?jg4xchamp

Marketing.

If you want to attract the western audience (Europe and NA) stop making games with douches that look like this

Look back at what Japanese devs did from the mid 90's to the early 2000's. God I miss JRPGs like

Ballroompirate

Maybe I'm wrong, but ins't FFX the second highest-selling game in the FF series after VII?

Although I do agree, I thought FF IX was where the series went off the deep end when it came to character designs.

Final Fantasy IV is the best one in my opinion when it comes to character designs. VI comes in at a close second.

I have great respect for him (minus being part of Shadow's of the Damned), but I think he's wrong.

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

If you want to attract the western audience (Europe and NA) stop making games with douches that look like this

Look back at what Japanese devs did from the mid 90's to the early 2000's. God I miss JRPGs like

caryslan2

Maybe I'm wrong, but ins't FFX the second highest-selling game in the FF series after VII?

Although I do agree, I thought FF IX was where the series went off the deep end when it came to character designs.

Final Fantasy IV is the best one in my opinion when it comes to character designs. VI comes in at a close second.

:o

We are now friends. You have no choice in the matter!

[QUOTE="caryslan2"]

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

If you want to attract the western audience (Europe and NA) stop making games with douches that look like this

Look back at what Japanese devs did from the mid 90's to the early 2000's. God I miss JRPGs like

sandbox3d

Maybe I'm wrong, but ins't FFX the second highest-selling game in the FF series after VII?

Although I do agree, I thought FF IX was where the series went off the deep end when it came to character designs.

Final Fantasy IV is the best one in my opinion when it comes to character designs. VI comes in at a close second.

:o

We are now friends. You have no choice in the matter!

Heh, its nice to see someone agree with me.

well how about they money on some ADVERTISING
There is a reason Klonoa on the wii sold something like 5000 copies... yes most people have bad taste and dun buy it, but I had never even heard of Klonoa.

also release on every platform including Steam

only Sega seems to be doing this now

If you want to attract the western audience (Europe and NA) stop making games with douches that look like this

Look back at what Japanese devs did from the mid 90's to the early 2000's. God I miss JRPGs like

Ballroompirate

Tidus and Serge don't even look that different.

Japanese games aren't struggling. Even the low level titles outclass all the generic western garbage. :roll:

Shinji Makami San is only showing his modesty. Western devs should take note. They stand to learn a thing or two about honor.

Japanese games aren't struggling. Even the low level titles outclass all the generic western garbage. :roll:

Shinji Makami San is only showing his modesty. Western devs should take note. They stand to learn a thing or two about honor.

GloriousNippon

Actually disagree. Plenty of examples of Japanese games going big budget. But the difference is, big budget in Japan does not translate into a blockbuster game unlike big budget Western games.

The problem is they refuse to work outside their box. The other issue is Western gamers want to play the same redundancy with-in their own box. It is a lose lose situation for them, and that easily applies to Western developers to (i.e so many developers shutting down).

Japanese games aren't struggling. Even the low level titles outclass all the generic western garbage. :roll:

Shinji Makami San is only showing his modesty. Western devs should take note. They stand to learn a thing or two about honor.

GloriousNippon

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

If you want to attract the western audience (Europe and NA) stop making games with douches that look like this

Look back at what Japanese devs did from the mid 90's to the early 2000's. God I miss JRPGs like

CLOUDsea

/enter generic hero here/